


The Gun

by gum_tree_betty1



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-18 01:45:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14843231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gum_tree_betty1/pseuds/gum_tree_betty1
Summary: Licking his dry lips and forcing himself to remain calm, Danny stepped closer as he slowly reached for the gun. "You're not in trouble Sammy, I just need you to give me the gun."





	1. Chapter 1

"Cover the back, Danny, in case Henderson decides to try and make a break for it, but be careful, we don't know if he's armed or not." Steve ordered softly, nodding towards the small alleyway that wound around the side and led to the back of the building.

Danny nodded. "You be careful too, Babe," he warned Steve before heading towards the alleyway, unholstering his gun as he ran.

Steve hesitated a moment as he waited for his partner to reach the alley's entrance before he turned and entered the old dilapidated apartment building, carefully making his way up the old wooden stairs.

Staying close to the shadow of the wall of the building, Danny moved cautiously into the alley. He hated this part of the job, entering a dark, deserted area alone, uncertain if anyone waited in the shadows, watching his every move.

A fleeting movement in the darkened recesses of the alley caught his eye. Danny tightened the grip on his gun, his finger resting lightly on the trigger as he got a cautious step forward and called, "Five O! Freeze!" He felt his heart miss several beats at the sight of the two frightened young boys staring, wide-eyed, at him. His hand trembled as he lowered his gun, reholstering it. "What are you two boys doing here?" he demanded a little more gruffly than he meant to, feeling physically ill at how close he had been to pulling the trigger. Drawing a deep breath to settle his nerves, he nervously ran his hand over his head, leaving it resting on the back of his neck as he asked more quietly, "God, do either of you two know how close I came to shooting both of you?"

Both boys traded guilty glances before the oldest boy turned back to Danny and answered, "We're just hangin' out, Officer Williams, honest! We ain't doin' nothin'."

"Yeah, Officer Williams, we were just hangin' out," echoed the smaller child, quickly hiding something behind his back.

Danny eyed the two young boys suspiciously, he knew that he should send the boys home and take up his position to cover the back in case Henderson made a break for it but the two boys' odd behavior alerted him to something was more amiss than just the two boys being somewhere where both were fully aware they were not allowed to be. He stepped towards the two boys as his voice took on the father no-nonsense tone he had used on both Grace and Charlie when they were being rambunctious. "Sammy, what are you hiding behind your back?"

The young boy's bottom lip quivered as he slowly and reluctantly brought his hand around to the front, Danny stared in disbelief at the Berretta he had clutched in his hands. "Please Officer Williams, don't tell me dad. He doesn't know I sneaked it out of the house. I'm not allowed to touch his police gun, but I just wanted to show Tommy." The small boy's eyes filled with tears and his hands shook as he held the weapon." I know I shoudn't have taken it, but I was gunna put it straight back, honest!"

Licking his dry lips and forcing himself to remain calm, Danny stepped closer as he slowly reached for the gun. "You're not in trouble Sammy, I just need you to give me the gun," he commanded gently, not wanting to frighten the child more than he already was.

"Give Officer Williams the gun, Sammy!" Tommy ordered, grabbing at the weapon in his friend's hands.

"Leave me alone! I'm doin' it!" Sammy yelled, jerking the gun away from his friend's reach.

A deafening bang startled the young boys as the gun discharged and they looked up, eyes wide with shock, as Danny clutched the side of his head, blood seeping through his fingers before his legs suddenly buckled beneath him and he collapsed silently to the ground.

"You killed him!" Tommy whispered as he stared at the growing red puddle forming around Danny's head as he turned and looked at his stunned friend, "You killed Officer Williams!"

"I…I didn't mean to. It was an accident." Sammy whimpered as he stared at one of his father's friend's motionless body lying on the ground. "What am I gunna do, Tommy, my dad will arrest me if he finds out! Then he will skin me alive for touching his gun!"

"We're gotta get out of here! We're gotta put your dad's gun back where it belongs so no one will ever know what ya did!" Tommy said, tugging on his friend's sleeve, "Come on, we gotta get out of here before someone sees us and tells."

Backing away, with the gun still clutched tightly in his hand, Sammy nodded and turned, following his friend as they ran out of the alley.


	2. Chapter 2

Reaching the second floor, Steve moved down the corridor, un-holstering his weapon as he neared Henderson's one room apartment door. Reaching the door, he lifted his leg and kicked it open as he yelled, "Five O!"

The sound of cursing and running feet instantly warned Steve that the murder suspect was making a break for it, probably down the fire escape and quickly barging into the apartment, Steve was just in time to see the terrified looking face of the man, he and Danny had been searching for the last four days, look at him through the window before disappearing out of view. Racing across to the window, Steve leaned out and looked down the metal ladder fire escape only to see Henderson leap from the bottom of the ladder and onto the ground, glancing up at him as he yelled, "Danny! He's heading your way!" as he climbed out of the window and climbed down the old rickerty fire escape before jumping the rest of the way to the ground, landing on his hands and knees just as Henderson disappeared out of view around the side of the building and into the alleyway where Danny was waiting.

Confident that Danny would stop their desperate fugitive as Henderson rounded the side of the building, Steve rose to his feet and began to run towards the side of the building but his heart momentarily froze when he heard the sound of a single gunshot. With an extra surge of speed, he ran to the corner of the building with his gun ready for any trouble that he might encounter. Casting a quick glance around the side of the building, his chest tightened with fear when he saw the motionless body of his partner lying face down on the wet, litter strewn ground.

Steve quickly scanned the dimly lit alley before he cautiously stepped into the alleyway and forcing himself to momentarily ignore the body of his partner, he quickly searched for any potential threats or hidden dangers but other than Danny, the alley was empty. Henderson was gone.

Re-holstering his gun, he turned and ran back to where Danny was lying. Crouching down, he found himself staring at Danny's bloodied face and head and the burgundy red puddle that was beginning to pool beneath his partner's head and shoulders. A head shot!

Pressing his trembling fingers against the side of Danny's neck as he desperately tried to feel for a pulse. He sighed a soft breath of relief as he felt a weak thump underneath his fingertips. Stripping off his shirt, he quickly bunched it up and pressed it against the side of Danny's head, trying to stem the bleeding as he whispered, his voice shaking, "It's okay, Danny, I've got you, Buddy, I've got you. You're going to be okay."

**H50 H50 H50 H50**

Carefully opening the back door that led into the kitchen, Sammy poked his head inside and quickly looked around. The kitchen was empty, and he could hear the television on in the living room, and by the sound of the theme music that he heard playing, he knew his mother had just settled down for to watch her show, Days of Our Lives, he thought it was called. He frowned, he didn't understand what was so interesting about it, The Simpsons was so much better, but he did know his mother would be more interested in her television show than what he and Tommy were doing.

Waving at Tommy to let him know the coast was clear, he pushed the door fully open, pausing only long enough to wipe his feet so he would not leave dirty footprints on his mother's clean floor. Quickly crossing the kitchen, he hid the gun behind his back before he pushed the swinging doors to the living room open and tried to casually saunter, behind the sofa where his mother was sitting watching her show, towards the stairs that led upstairs to the bedrooms, with Tommy trailing close behind.

"What are you two boys up to?"

He froze at his mother's question, pressing the gun harder against his back in an attempt to conceal it better as he stopped and slowly turned towards her, "Umm, nothing, mom, just …just ridin' our bikes. We stayed in the street just like you told us."

Frowning at her son's guilty answer, Jane turned and looked over her shoulder, pinning him with her famous 'I know you are lying' stare and narrowing her eyes as she asked, "Okay, just where did the two of you go?"

"Nowhere, honest, Mrs Wakefield, we just rode up and down the street like ya told us," Tommy interrupted, giving his friend's mom the best innocent look that he could do.

"Ah ha," Jane's eyes narrowed a little more, watching the two boys with suspicion, as Sammy eagerly nodded, a little too fast, agreeing with Tommy.

"See, I told ya, Mom," Sammy rushed on as he edged towards the stairs, his hands held behind his back as he asked, "Can we go now? We want to go upstairs and play the Playstation."

Eyeing the two boys for a few more minutes, Jane finally nodded as she turned back towards the television, calling over her shoulder as she heard the two boys run up the carpeted stairs, "Try not to make too much noise. Remember, Sammy, dad's on night duty, so don't you go waking him up."

"Okay, Mom." Sammy called down as he reached the top of the stairs before he turned and ran across to his bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him after Tommy followed him in.

"How are you going to put the gun back now? You heard your mom, your dad's asleep." Tommy asked, watching as Sammy hurried across to his bed and carefully put the gun down onto it.

"It's okay, mom always says to be quiet and not to wake dad up when he's sleepin' during the day. But I heard her tell grandma that dad can sleep through an earthquake, and luckily nothin', not even me and my friends playing can wake him up." Sammy told his friend as he turned and hurried across to his dresser and opened one of the drawers before pulling out a clean tee-shirt and returning to the bed. "And I got the gun out of his drawer after he went to sleep this morning," Sammy smiled with pride as he picked up the gun and carefully began to wipe it with his shirt, "So I will just put it back the same way. But you will have to be my look out, mom's show finishes soon, and I don't want her to catch me."

Tommy nodded as he watched Sammy carefully wiped down the outside of the gun, "Yeah, okay," he agreed distractedly before he frowned and asked, "Why are ya doing that? The gun ain't dirty."

Looking up in surprise, Sammy shook his head at the confused look on his friend's face as he answered, knowingly, "I'm makin' sure our fingerprints ain't on it. Don't ya watch the T.V? That's what the bad guys do if they don't want to get caught and dad says it's so the police can't find their fingerprints. That way it makes it hard to arrest them for murder."

"I knew that, just checkin' you did!" Tommy protested as he turned and followed Sammy, who was still holding the gun carefully with the tee shirt, towards the door.

"Bet ya didn't!" Sammy hissed back as he carefully opened the door and looked out into the hall way before he looked over his shoulder and whispered the words he had often heard on TV when the baddie wanted to sneak in somewhere, "Come on, the coast is clear," before stepping out and heading across to his parent's room.

Stopping as he reached the door, he turned and reminded Tommy, "Just remember, ya got to warn me if you see my mom comin'."

"How?" Tommy whispered.

"I don't know, the baddies always give a whistle in the shows," Sammy sighed in feigned annoyance.

"I can't whistle," Tommy whispered, "but I can call out your name if I see her, will that work?"

Sammy nodded. "Yeah, just make sure you call out loud enough for me to hear," he told his friend before he opened the bedroom door and slipped inside the darkened bedroom.

Closing the door behind him, he stood still and stared at his father in the bed, holding his breath as he waited to see if his father had woken up when he had opened the door. He grinned as he heard his father's soft, familiar snore before he crept, on tip toes across the room, before going down onto his hands and knees and crawling with the gun in his hand as he got within a few feet of the bed.

Stopping when he reached his father's bedside table he quickly rose to peek to make sure his father was still sleeping before he reached across and slowly pulled the drawer open, just wide enough to put the gun back from where he had got it. Sticking the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, he carefully placed the gun in the drawer, freezing when the gun slipped from the tee shirt and softly cluttered against the bottom of the drawer.

He held his breath as he turned in fear, expecting to find his father staring at him but instead he watched his father murmur something in his sleep as he rolled over onto his back. Releasing his breath, he slowly pushed the drawer closed before he turned and crawled quickly back to the door, standing up and opening it before dashing back out into the hallway.

"Did ya put it back?" Tommy asked as Sammy turned and quickly closed the door.

"Yeah, told ya I would, now no one can arrest us." Sammy smiled as he headed back towards his bedroom. "I bags first go on the controller," he told his friend as he and Tommy ran back to his room to play.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve looked up as the elevator doors slid open and Lou, Chin and Kono stepped out and quickly looked around before they turned and hurried towards him. Pushing himself away from the wall where he had been leaning, he silently waited for them to join him outside the Operating Room into which Danny had been rushed.

"How is he?" Chin asked, anxiously, glancing towards the closed operating room door.

Steve shrugged as he looked back at the doors of the OR before he looked back at anxious trio,  his voice catching in his throat just a little as he forced himself to answer, his words making the situation a reality and not the bad nightmare that he had been praying that he would wake up from, "Not good, he took a round to the head. They took him straight into surgery, they didn't even try and stabilize him in the ER." Running a hand over the back of his head, Steve swallowed hard as he added, "The doctor promised to update me as soon as they can."

Lou nodded as he glanced towards down the empty corridor they were standing in before he looked back at Steve, "I don’t understand, what happened Steve?"

Looking down at the bag containing Danny's wallet, badge, house and car keys as well as his gun and holster, that he held in his hand, Steve shook his head. "We got a tip off to where Henderson was lying low, so we went to the apartment to make the arrest. Danny covered the back in case Henderson tried to make a break for it while I went up to his room. Henderson panicked and made a break for it down the fire escape. Danny must have confronted him in the alley. I heard a shot but by the time I made it to the alleyway, Danny was down, and the bastard was gone."

"And you’re certain there was no one else was in the alley, Boss?"

Steve turned and looked at Kono in confusion, "The alley was empty, I checked, why?"

"HPD have a witness who said she saw two small boys run out of the alley almost immediately after the shot was fired." Chin answered, glancing across at Lou and Kono before returning his attention back to Steve

"Two small boys?" Steve frowned.

"The witness told HPD that the two boys she saw were young, no older than seven or eight years old, one was blonde, the other had dark hair and both were dressed in jeans and tee-shirts. She was too far away to get a good look at either boy nor had she seen them around the alley before. She also said she saw a man fitting Henderson's description follow the boys out of the alley a few seconds later."

Steve frowned, "Maybe there’s two small witnesses who were in the alley and saw what happened."

Lou nodded in agreement. "That's just what I'm thinking, Steve." he agreed as the operating door opened and the surgeon still dressed in his surgical scrubs, emerged.

Hurrying across to the surgeon, with Lou, Chin and Kono close behind, Steve asked, “How is he, Doc?”

“Detective Williams’s condition is currently critical but stable,” the surgeon began, tugging the surgical mask that still hung around his neck free, “The bullet struck the left side of his head and although it did not penetrate the skull, it did cause a depressed skull fracture as it gouged across the outside of the bone, causing several large bone fragments to break away and press down against his brain which caused some intracranial hemorrhaging and swelling. We were able to stop the bleeding and remove the bone fragments which we have wired the fragmented bone fragments back into place.”

“But he’s going to be okay?” Steve pushed, silently praying that he was about to hear the answer he so desperately needed to hear.

 “He’s young and strong and barring any complications, he has a good chance… but as for the chances of it being a full recovery,” the surgeon shrugged, “I’m afraid I can’t answer that just yet. We won’t know if there is any brain damage, or how severe any brain damage he may have suffered may be, until he regains consciousness.”

Steve swallowed hard and nodded, “Can…can I see him?”

“Not until tomorrow, I’m afraid,” the doctor replied, “he’s still in recovery and then they will be transferring him into the ICU where we will be monitoring him closely tonight, now if you will excuse me, I really need to get back to my patient.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Steve said quietly as the doctor turned and headed back towards the OR doors.

Pushing the doors open, the doctor paused and turned back towards the four Five O officers, “We also found gunpowder stippling around the wound when we shaved his head for the surgery, not sure if that’s useful or not.” he added, almost as an afterthought before he turned and disappeared through the doors.

 “Gunpowder stippling around the wound,” Lou frowned. “That means Danny was shot at close range, why the hell did he let Henderson get so close without firing a shot to defend himself.”

“I don’t know,” Steve growled as he turned and headed towards the elevator, “But I am going to find Henderson and find out why!”

O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O

Opening his bedside drawer, John froze when he saw his service weapon lying on top of his gun belt and holster. Reaching into the drawer, he slowly picked the gun and the gun belt up and placed them on top of the bedside drawers. Running a hand over his face, he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed as he stared at the two items. He knew that the gun had been holstered and the holster’s safety strap had been holding the weapon securely to prevent it from slipping free when he had placed it in the drawer and he knew there could only be one reason why the gun was now out of his holster.

His heart sunk, aware this was not the first time this had happened, and he had his doubts that this would be the last time either. Taking a deep shuddering breath as he forced himself to rise from the bed, he slowly walked across to the bedroom door and opened it before he called to his son. “Sammy, come in here please.”

He watched as Sammy and his friend Tommy emerged from Sammy’s bedroom before he stepped aside and allowed Sammy to enter his bedroom as Tommy stopped, uncertainly, at the doorway.

“Yes, Daddy?” Sammy asked, glancing at his father’s service weapon on the bedside table before he turned and looked innocently up at his father.

“Sammy, did you go into my drawers while I was asleep and touch my police gun?” he asked softly, watching his son carefully.

“No, Daddy,” Sammy shook his head, “you and mommy said that I am not allowed to touch it anymore.”

“Are you sure you didn’t sneak it out to show your friend, Tommy?” John asked, glancing towards Sammy’s friend who suddenly looked very scared and guilty before he returned his attention back to his son, “You won’t get into trouble if you tell me the truth.” John promised, just wanting Sammy to tell him the truth.

“No, Daddy, you and mommy told me I wasn’t allowed to anymore.” Sammy repeated as he shook his head empathically, his lip trembling slightly as he saw his father stare at him in disbelief before he asked quietly, “Can I go now, please? Tommy and me are playing the Playstation and I am just about to win.”

Nodding silently, John watched as Sammy ran out of the room before he headed back to his bedroom with his friend close behind him. He stood staring at the empty doorway, uncertain of what to do or where else to turn. Sammy had just blatantly lied to his face again, and experience had taught him that once Sammy lied, no amounts of threats, bribery, groundings or even spankings could make the child admit the truth. And he was quickly reaching the end of his rope with Sammy and his behavior.  Only seven years old, his son was already adept at lying and would do just whatever he wanted to do with little or no empathy of the effects that his behavior had on other people.

Sammy just did not seem to care. Not even after Jamie's death… His hand shook as he remembered that horrible morning when he had entered the baby's nursery and found Sammy smiling proudly, standing beside Jamie's cot with the cot's side down and a pillow in his hand. Neither he nor Susan had told the doctors or the officers investigating Jamie's sudden death what he had seen that morning, the mere thought that Sammy might have possibly had something to do with Jamie's death was just too hard to deal with or believe. Jamie's death had been ruled as SIDS.

Janey and he had taken Sammy to numerous doctors, pediatricians and even several child psychologists in an attempt to find out what was wrong with their son and how they could correct his behavior. But the answers were always the same, ranging from Sammy was just going through a normal childhood phase which he would eventually grow out of it, to the traumatic and sudden death of a younger sibling often delays normal emotional development and causes the child to become emotionally detached from everyone around him, with love time and understanding, Sammy would recover from the loss of his brother answer. All he could do was pray and hope the doctors were right.

He sighed, aware that nothing he could say or do to Sammy would stop the boy from trying to play with his gun. All he could do was to place a lock on the drawer and hide the key to keep the deadly weapon out of his young son’s hands to prevent any potential tragedies from happening, something he would have to do the first thing tomorrow after he got home from night duty.

Reaching for his gun belt, he strapped it around his waist before replacing the gun in its holster and grabbing his badge, wallet and keys from the top of the bedside drawers. Glancing down at his watch, he turned and hurried out of the room, he was running late and the Sarge would have his head if he missed roll call again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say a big Thank You to everyone who has commented or kudoed this story.

Tony Henderson pulled the thin coat he was wearing a little tighter against the light misty rain that was farewelling the setting sun as he nervously looked around. Reassuring himself that no one was around, he left the safety of the shadows and ran across the road. Hurrying up the stairs to the home's front door, he quickly looked around again before he turned and knocked. He waited for a minute, shifting nervously from foot to foot before he knocked again.

He heard someone within approach the door before a young, dark- haired woman opened the door. "Tony!" she gasped in surprise, "What are you doing here? I thought I told you that you were never to come here again!"

"Just get in here, before one of your nosey neighbors sees me, and shut the door!" he ordered softly as he pushed past her and moved across to the window, lifting the curtain slightly to look outside as the young woman closed the door and turned to face him as she placed her hands on her hips.

"You just can't turn up here and order me to let you come in any time you want, Tony, not after what happened the last time you were here," she told him firmly, "I told you that we were through, that I don't want you coming around here ever again."

Dropping the curtain back into place, Tony turned and faced her, his fear evident in his face, his voice trembling as he whispered, "I'm sorry, Jenny, but I didn't know where else to go…"

Concern replaced any annoyance she was feeling as she looked into Tony's frightened eyes and asked, "Tony, what's happened?"

"I'm in trouble, Jen, big trouble this time," he admitted, running his fingers through his hair, a habit she knew he did unconsciously when he was nervous or upset.

She frowned as she stepped closer and grabbed his hands, squeezing them lightly as she asked, "What sort of trouble?"

"The Five O cops think I killed one of them," he began softly as he pulled his hands free of her light hold and began to pace the small room, "They think I shot him in the head as I tried to get away from them… but it was one of the kids…"

"You shot a cop?" Jenny's frown deepened in confusion, shocked and a little frightened at what he was telling her as she tried to follow his story as Tony paced back towards the window, "I…I don't understand…Why did you do that?"

"I didn't shoot the cop!" Henderson growled as he spun towards her.

His unpredictable fiery temper had always frightened her, although she loved him with all her heart and when everything was going well he was so gentle and loving but when things went wrong... His temper was quick and often violent. She stepped back and gasped in surprise and terror when she saw a gun in his hand. "I didn't shoot that cop," he shouted again as he jabbed the gun towards her in anger, "Don't you ever listen, I have already told you that the kid shot the cop, not me."

Swallowing hard as she took another faltering step backwards, Jenny raised her hands as she tried desperately to calm him, "Okay, okay, you didn't shoot the cop, the kid did but think about it, Tony, if you didn't shoot him, why don't you tell the cops that. I've…I've watched some of the police shows on television and the …the…" She frowned as she desperately tried to think of the right word the cop shows used for collecting stuff like fingerprints and checking bullets, "umm…forensics…I think they call it will support what you say. I mean if you didn't shoot the cop, the bullets in your gun won't match the bullet they have dug out of the cop's body. You can tell them the kids shot him. You will be in the clear."

"Damn it, open your ears and listen to me?" Tony yelled, his fear, frustration and anger boiling over as he took a threatening step closer, "I can't go to Five O and tell them what happened! The cop got shot while I was trying to get away from them, so why would they believe me anyway?" He shook his head as he turned and stepped back to the window, lifting the curtain to look outside again. Satisfied that the street was still empty, and their shouting had not drawn any unwanted attention, he allowed the curtain to drop back into place before he turned back towards the now frightened woman, his gun still trained on her as he announced, "Five O are looking for me, that's why I came here. I needed somewhere safe to hide, where McGarrett and the rest of his cops won't look for me and you're going to hide me until I can get away."

She nodded woodenly in reluctant agreement, too frightened to speak and risk angering him any further, the last time she had angered him had resulted in four broken ribs, a broken arm, a black eye and a two-week hospital stay for her. Licking her dry lips, she managed to whisper, "Okay, Tony, you can stay here."

He smiled and lowered his gun, satisfied he had complete control over her again as he quietly ordered, "So, be a good girl and go and lock the door and then go and make me some dinner. I'm hungry," His smile turned wolfish and he licked his lips greedily, staring at her ass as she turned and hurried across to lock the door before he added softly, "and maybe afterwards we can have some real fun together, just like we used to do!"

O()O()O()O()O()O()

Standing in the alleyway, Steve frowned as he stared up at the small hole where the bullet that had struck Danny had embedded itself in the wall. He turned and stared at the spot where his partner had fallen, his frown deepening. Every possible scenario he ran through his mind about just how Danny was shot was instantly rejected. None of this made any sense and the more scenarios he ran through his mind, the more questions he had. Why had Danny had allowed Henderson to get the drop on him? And why the Hell had Danny reholstered his gun? Now, studying the actual angle of the bullet that had struck Danny in the head, just added to Steve's questions and confusion on just what had had happened in this alleyway just a few short hours before.

He slowly turned and looked around him, the usual collection of overflowing garbage bins, discarded carboard boxes and general rubbish no longer wanted by the tenants or businesses in the surrounding buildings lined the wall, lots of places for two small, frightened boys to hide. But what were they doing here? The alley was not the place most young children would come to play. And just what had they seen?

He sighed, running his hand in frustration over his head and turned, walking out the now dark and empty alley before he headed back into the apartment building to Henderson's 2nd floor apartment where Chin and Kono were searching for anything that could give them a clue of where Henderson had gone.

 Entering the tiny one roomed apartment, he turned and looked around. The room reeked of stale cigarette smoke and unwashed clothes, an overflowing ashtray sat in the middle of the small badly scratched coffee table that had several well-worn playboy magazines scattered across it, and empty beer bottles were dropped, haphazardly, around the floor. Kono was searching the small closet, her nose wrinkling as she picked up a pair of grime covered jeans and began to tentatively search the pockets with her gloved hand. Chin had stripped the blanket and sheets from the bed and was now searching beneath the smelly,  yellow stained mattress.

Taking a few steps across to the small kitchenette as he pulled on a pair of gloves, Steve could not stop his own nose from wrinkling in disgust nose as the smell that emitted from an old pizza box sitting open on the bench assaulted his nose. Reaching across, he quickly hit the box lid closed and pushed it away as he picked up several addressed envelopes that had been dropped next to it.

He quickly went through the contents of the envelopes, most were bills, many overdue, all addressed to Henderson's only too obvious alias John F. Kennedy. Steve could almost hear Henderson laugh as he told people his alias name, 'Yeah, just like J.F.K. but I am more handsome than he was."

Finding nothing useful to the investigation, Steve dropped the envelopes back onto the bench before he began to open drawers, and searching them, hoping to find an address book or something that might lead him to where Henderson was now hiding.

Finding nothing they could use, he crossed back the living area to the small set of bedside drawers that was doubling as a second well used coffee table, leaning down, he pulled the first draw open, pushing aside an assortment or socks, underwear and what was once white but now were grayish, sweat stained, tee shirts. He pushed closed the drawer before opening the second one and quickly ruffling through the shirts and tee shirts that appeared to have been just shoved, haphazardly, into the drawer rather than folded and placed.

He paused as he saw the photo of a young smiling woman hidden at the bottom of the drawer. Carefully picking it up he studied the young woman's smiling face, her dark hair and eyes before he turned it over and read the name scrawled carefully on the back. 'Jenny'. Placing it down on the top of the bedside table, he grabbed his phone from his pocket as it began to ring and glanced at the unfamiliar call ID number before he stabbed the answer button and snapped, “McGarrett.” Steve felt his heart miss several beats in fear as the nurse identified herself before she told him the surgeon was requesting that he return to the hospital immediately, or sooner, if possible.

Kono and Chin stopped searching and turned towards Steve as they heard him ask anxiously, “What’s happened?”

Steve’s grip on his phone tightened, turning his knuckles white as he listened to the nurse’s reply before he told her, “I’m on my way.” Hitting the disconnect button, he turned back towards Chin and Kono, his face pale and the fear evident in his face as he quickly explained, “Danny’s condition has deteriorated. The surgeon wants me back at the hospital, straight away.”

“Go Steve, we can take care of things here.” Chin told him. “We will meet you at the hospital after we wrap things up here.”

“Yeah Boss, Danny needs you more than we do,” Kono added softly.

Pushing the photo he had found into Chin’s hand, Steve ordered "I found this in the bedside drawer. Try and find out who she is and what link she has to Henderson. If you need me…"

"We know where you will be," Chin finished Steve's statement as Steve nodded and ran out of the apartment.


	5. Chapter 5

"As many of you probably already know, Danny Williams from Five O was shot, at point blank range in the head today in the alleyway next to the old Bellevue Apartment building in Hotel Street, while trying to apprehend a suspect, Henderson, on suspicion of murder." Holding up his hand to stop the sudden barrage of shouted questions asking about the Five O detective's condition, the sergeant waited until silence fell back in the squad room. "From what I have been told, Williams underwent emergency surgery this afternoon and his condition is currently listed as critical but stable and the doctors are optimistic that if there are no complications, he will recover but just how well that recovery will be…" he shrugged, aware that every man in the room knew the type of damage a bullet to the head could do.

Picking up the leaflets of the BOLO notification and photo of the wanted shooter, the sergeant handed the pile to the officer sitting in front of him, to take one and pass the rest along. Watching until each man studied the BOLO, he glanced down at the notes he had made before he looked back up at his men and continued, "Forensics have confirmed that Williams was shot with a Berretta, but the bullet is too damaged to link it to any gun.

Henderson managed to escape after the shooting but Commander McGarrett believes that there could be two small witnesses who saw the shooting of Detective Williams go down. A witness has reported seeing two boys run out of the alley moments after the shooting, before they were followed out by a man matching Henderson description. She described the boys as being around the ages of seven or eight, one with blond hair, the other dark hair, both were dressed in jeans and tee shirts."

"Damn, that could be any seven or eight-year-old boy in the city," Randy yelled out in frustration before he tilted head towards his partner, "Hell, John's own kid, Sammy, fits that description."

John froze, unable to breath or speak, Randy was right, the description did fit Sammy to a tee and the shooting had happened only three blocks away from his home.

"I know, I know, Kelegain, but McGarrett believes these two boys at best are potential witnesses and at worst, if Henderson knows they witnessed the shooting, they could become his next victims. He wants us to keep our eyes out for any young boys fitting that description in that area. We need to try and find these two boys before Henderson does and find out just what they saw." Returning his attention back to the rest of the officers in the squad room, he ordered, "Henderson should be considered armed and dangerous, he has already cold-bloodedly shot one good officer who was trying to arrest him today and I doubt he would not hesitate shooting another if he is cornered. So, let's try and get him off the streets before he decides to kill anyone else.

Okay, moving on, there has been a spate of complaints about cars being broken into and personal items being taken from them in the …"

John sat froze, unable to breath or speak, as the sarge's voice faded away and his thoughts drifted back to his gun and Sammy. Randy was right, the description did fit Sammy to a tee and the shooting had happened only three blocks away from his home. A knot of fear formed in the pit of his gut as he wondered if Sammy and Tommy had spent the afternoon in the street riding their bikes as Sammy had told his mother or had the two boys slipped away to play with his gun. He needed to talk to Janey and fast. He needed to know where the boys had spent the afternoon.

He jumped when he felt Randy nudge him and was surprised to find that the briefing had finished. Rising from his seat, he grabbed the BOLO sheet and followed his partner out of the door, pausing as they stepped out into the corridor. "I just want to ring home and tell Janey about Danny before she sees it on the news. I'll be out to the car in a couple of minutes."

Randy nodded, aware the both John and Jane were close friends with Williams, probably closer than they were with him.  John had been assigned for three months to assist Homicide on a murder case and had worked closely with Williams before Williams had promoted to Five O, and the two of them had quickly become close friends, bonding over being fathers, a hate of pineapple on pizza and being haoles from the mainland. Even after Williams joined the elite task force, he still always found time to hang out with John and Jane. Randy sighed, unable to deny to himself that he was just a little jealous of the friendship between Williams and his partner, after all he was John’s partner now. "Just hurry up, will ya, the Sarge is already on our case for leaving the station late yesterday."

"I will." John promised as Randy sighed again and nodded before he turned and walked towards the door leading out into the police garage.

Turning back towards the payphones that lined the back wall, John reached into his pocket and pulled out all his loose change, carefully going through the coins, searching for a dime when he heard Sarge call his name. Swallowing hard, he quickly dropped the coins back into his pocket and spun around, expecting to see Sarge's angry glare and receive a tongue lashing about how he should be out on patrol already but instead Sarge hurried across to where he was standing.

"Sarge, I can explain…" John began only to have his explanation silenced in a wave of the sergeant's hand.

"I'm glad I caught you before you went out on patrol, John," his duty sergeant began, placing a hand on John's shoulder as the Sarge steered him back towards the squad room, and away from anyone who could overhear their conversation. "Your partner's objections about the description of the boys in there reminded me that you live about three blocks away from where Williams was shot this afternoon and that your son is about the same age as the boys we are looking for."

John felt his heart stop in fear as he nodded woodenly.

"So, you probably know a few boys in that area who fit the general description, including your own son."

"But, Sarge, as Randy said that description fits a lot of kids…" John began to weakly object.

"I know," the sergeant sighed as he turned and looked at his young officer, "But it's a start, so that's why I want you and your partner going to directly the homes of any boys in that area who you know might fit that description and interviewing them, maybe one of them will admit to being in the alley this afternoon. I know it's a long shot but sometimes long shots like this pay off."

Biting his bottom lip, John nodded, "Okay, Sarge."

Watching his sergeant walk away, John glanced at the payphones before he turned and headed towards the door of the parking garage where his partner was waiting. He swallowed hard as parts of the Sarge's report of Danny's shooting replayed over and over in his mind,  _"Danny Williams from Five O was shot at point blank range in the head today in the alleyway next to the old Bellevue Apartment building in Hotel Street, his condition is currently listed as critical. A witness has reported seeing two boys run out of the alley moments after the shooting. She described the boys as being around the ages of seven of eight, one with blond hair, the other dark hair, both were dressed in jeans and tee shirts."_

 He swallowed hard as Randy's voice echoed in his mind.  _"Damn, that could be any seven or eight-year-old boy in the city, Hell, John's own kid, Sammy, fits that description."_

He felt his stomach churn as he stepped through the doors and paused in the shadows of the garage, Randy did not know how right he was, Sammy and Tommy did fit the descriptions, in fact both fitted the descriptions to a tee, and both were wearing tee shirts and jeans. He bit his lip, as he remembered how he had found his gun in the drawer and the knowledge that Sammy had lied straight to his face when asked if he had touched it. John found himself wondering just where Sammy and Tommy had actually played that afternoon.

Janey had told him the Sammy and Tommy had spent the afternoon riding their bikes in the street when he had asked but he knew that Janey often escaped the reality of what had happened to their family in the last few months by watching her soap operas and ignoring the world around her, something he didn't doubt for a second that Sammy would take advantage of.

His stomach churned harder as he found himself wondering just why Danny would have let an armed suspect to get close enough to him to shoot him at point blank range in the head. Danny was one hell of a good cop, there was no way… unless he wasn't shot by the suspect…

 _'Williams was shot with a Berretta.'_   Sarge's words screamed in his head and he tasted the sour taste of hot bile as it rose in the back of his throat.

Hating himself for the horrifying suspicions that were running through his mind, he quickly looked around to make sure he was alone before he unclipped his weapon and took it out of its holster. He shook his head, unable to believe he was really doing this, and admonished himself about how stupid and guilty he was about to feel for even entertaining the horrible suspicions that were running through his mind. Just what sort of a father was he?

He shook his head, praying that he was wrong as he opened the barrel with a shaking hand to check the bullets. He swallowed hard, uncertain if he was going to vomit when he saw one of the bullets was missing. His gun had been recently fired and not by him.

The world around him faded to grey and he lent back against the cold cement wall as he tried to slow his racing heart and control his breathing as he willed himself not to pass out. Closing the barrel, it took him two goes to replace his weapon into his holster, his hand shaking too badly for him to fasten the safety clip. He swallowed hard and ran his hand over his face, his mind racing. What the Hell was he going to do?

Taking a deep breath to help himself to calm down. The Sarge wanted him and Randy to talk to the neighbourhood kids, including Sammy, to try and find out if any of them would admit to being in that alley when Danny was shot, something he knew Sammy would never admit to. It gave him the perfect excuse to go home and talk to Janey, he needed to find a way to talk to her alone, they needed to work out what they were going to do, how they were going to protect their son.

Pushing himself away from the solid support of the wall, he took another deep breath and ran his hand over his face before he held his hand and watched it tremble. Taking another deep breath, he walked out of the shadows and headed towards the patrol car.

Impatiently drumming the steering wheel with his fingers, Randy looked into the rear vision mirror for any sign of his partner before he glanced down at his watch. Where the Hell was John? He had promised he would only be a few minutes! Randy sighed loudly, aware that Sarge would have both their heads if they were late out on patrol again. His sigh of impatience changed to one of relief as he saw his partner hurrying towards their patrol car.

"I thought you were only going to be a couple of minutes," he snapped a little more harshly than he had meant to when John open the door and slid into the passenger seat. Softening his tone, he glanced across at his partner's pale face as John slowly closed the door, "Everything okay, Buddy?" he frowned watching his partner, pausing with his hand on the ignition key as he stared at his partner's pale face, "Or did Janey take the news of Danny's shooting harder than you thought she would? I know that the three of you are close."

"Yeah, we are, Danny's part of the family, but I didn't get the chance to call her." John answered, avoiding any eye contact with his partner, "The Sarge cornered me before I could, he wants us to talk to some of the boys in my neighborhood, try and find out if any of them were in that alley this afternoon when Danny was shot."

"That's a hell of a long shot." Randy frowned as he started the engine and eased the car out of their parking space and drove out of the garage towards the street exit.

"That's what I told him," John answered, turning to stare out of the side window for a minute as they pulled into traffic before he turned back to look at his partner and asked, hesitatingly, "Umm, listen Randy, would you mind if I talk to Janey and tell her what happened and then question Sammy, and his friend Tommy who is staying with us for the week, on my own. I mean, it's just after everything that has happened… I don't want…" he shrugged uncomfortably, looking away.

Randy nodded as he reached over with one hand and lightly squeezed his partner's shoulder, "I understand, Partner, why don't you give me the addresses of some of the other boys and I will go and talk to them while you talk to Janey and Sammy."

"Thanks," John murmured, relieved, as they turned into his street.

OoOoOoOoO

“Let’s leave him intubated overnight and keep a close eye on his BP and neuro obs,” the surgeon ordered as the nurse jotted down his orders onto her pad.

“Are you worried about intracranial pressure?” she asked looking up at her taller medical colleague.

 “There’s always a risk of increased pressure or an intercranial bleed with giving epinephrine to a patient who has just undergone brain surgery,” the surgeon sighed as he continued to write down his new medical orders into the patient’s chart, “and with the dosage we had to give him to counteract the anaphylactic shock.”

The nurse nodded as she glanced over the surgeon’s shoulder as the doors to the ICU opened and the patient’s partner entered the unit. Looking back at the surgeon, she tilted her head towards the worried man hurrying towards them, “Commander McGarrett’s here.”

Quickly scribbling his signature at the end of the new orders, the surgeon closed the chart and handed it to the nurse in a silent dismissal before he turned to face McGarrett who was hurrying towards him.

“Doc, I got here as fast as I could. How is he?” Steve rushed out as he reached the surgeon, his fear and worry evident in his face.

Grabbing the anxious man gently by the elbow, the surgeon nodded towards the small doctor’s office as he suggested, “How about we talk in there.”

Steve nodded woodenly as the surgeon steered him into the office and closed the door behind them before asking him to take a seat.

Sitting down, Steve swallowed nervously, his heart thumping in his chest, as he tried to read the surgeon’s inscrutable face, looking for some clue to Danny’s condition as the doctor began to walk around the desk. “Doc?” he forced himself to croak out through his tightening throat, unable to wait any longer. “Danny?”

Clearing his throat noisily as he sat down, the doctor sighed, “Detective Williams has had a major set-back in his recovery, I’m afraid.”

“Set back? What sort of set back?” Steve asked anxiously.

“After surgery, we commenced Detective Williams on a course of antibiotics as a preventative measure against any infections,” the surgeon paused a heartbeat before he continued, “unfortunately he suffered a severe allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics, so severe that he went into anaphylactic shock.”

“Anaphylactic shock?” Steve’s face grew white, only too aware that anaphylactic shock is a life-threatening condition caused by a severe allergic reaction.

The doctor nodded, “Unfortunately Detective Williams had a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotic which not only caused hives, but also caused his blood pressure to drop and his throat to swell closed, impeded his breathing. We were able to get a breathing tube down his throat to enable him to breathe before the swelling closed his throat completely.” Watching the pale Five O leader closely, the surgeon continued quietly, “We are currently reversing the effects of the anaphylactic shock with medication and are monitoring him closely. We have also commenced him a different regime of antibiotics, which he appears to be tolerating well…”

“But?” Steve whispered, sensing the surgeon had not quite finished telling him all the unwelcome news.

“One of the medications we needed to administer to help counteract the anaphylactic shock, Epinephrine – you probably know it better as Adrenaline,” Steve nodded as the surgeon continued, “helps to elevate the low blood pressure, sometimes a little too much in patients who have just undergone bran surgery as your partner has.”

“And if the adrenaline does cause his blood pressure to rise too much?” Steve asked hesitantly, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

“It can cause intercranial bleeding,” the surgeon answered honestly before quickly reassure the upset man sitting opposite, “but we are monitoring his condition closely and are prepared to deal with any possible complications such as intercranial bleeding that may occur. I also plan to keep him intubated and on oxygen overnight until the danger of the symptoms of the anaphylactic shock has passed to protect his airway.”

Steve nodded numbly as he tried to process everything the doctor had just told him about the bad re-action Danny had had to the antibiotic, swallowing hard to dislodge the lump that had formed in his throat as he managed to whisper, “Can I see him?”

The surgeon nodded as he rose out of his seat, “Of course, but only for a couple of minutes. He is still unconscious, and the nurses are monitoring him closely.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Steve murmured as he rose from his seat and followed the surgeon from the small office.

OoOoOoOoO

Stepping up to the side of the bed in the small ICU room, Steve felt the breath rush from his lungs, leaving him breathless, as he found himself staring at his partner in the bed. Danny's head was swathed in heavy white bandages, which only accentuated the dark bruises that marred the left side of his swollen face, an oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose, and beneath the mask he could just see part of the black tube the surgeon had explained had been placed in Danny's throat to protect his airway. Three IV bags hung above the bed, two IV lines connected to two of the bags' snaked down and disappear beneath the white dressing at the junction of Danny's neck and shoulder, while the tubing of bag, that contained blood, disappeared beneath the small dressing on the back of Danny's right hand.

More disturbing were the raised, red blotches, Steve instantly recognized as hives, that covered Danny's face, neck, chest and arms. Steve was certain that more of the same angry looking blotches probably covered the rest of Danny's body that was covered by the crisp white sheet that covered him. The only sounds in the room was the soft, fast beeps of the heart monitor that sat on the table next to the bed and the strange wheezing sound that accompanied each breath Danny took.

"He is responding to the medication that we gave him to treat the allergic re-action and his condition is stabilizing," the surgeon reiterated quietly from the foot of the bed, seeing the shocked expression on Steve's face as stared down at his partner.

Steve nodded, swallowing hard as he continued to stare down at Danny, not quite trusting his voice yet to speak as he blinked back a tear.

Glancing down at his patient before he looked back up at his patient's upset partner, the surgeon's tone softened as he added, "But the hives after such a severe reaction often take a few hours or even a day or two to settle down and disappear."

Steve nodded again as he hesitatingly reached across to place his hand lightly on Danny's bare arm. Even though he knew that Danny was unconscious, he hoped that somehow Danny would know that he was here and that he was not alone as he gave the warm skin beneath his hand a gentle squeeze and whispered. "I'm here, Buddy, you're in the hospital. Doc said you've had a little set back with some of your medication but you're going to be okay, Danny, you're going to be okay... You hear me, babe, you're going to be okay…"

"Steve."

Steve turned back towards the door as Chin hurried into the room.

"The nurse told me you were in here with Danny," Chin began softly, releasing a small shocked gasp as he reached the side of the bed before he asked worriedly, "How's he doing?"

"He had a bad reaction to some of the medication, but his condition is stabilizing," Steve answered, watching Danny for a heartbeat more, before he turned to face Chin. "What have you got?"

Chin stared at Danny's bruised and swollen face for a moment before he returned his attention back to Steve, "The name of the young woman in the photo you gave me and an address. I thought that you would like to join me when I pay her a visit tonight."

"You bet I would," Steve answered immediately as he turned and hurried towards the door. Reaching the door, he paused and turned back to the surgeon, "If there's any change in his condition…"

"I will contact you immediately," the surgeon replied.

"Thanks, Doc," Steve nodded as he turned and followed Chin from the room and out of the unit.

Waiting until they were alone in the elevator and the elevator doors slid shut, Chin began his quick version of a report as the elevator jerked and began its descent to the lobby. "Her name is Jennifer Rankin, Steve, she has an apartment on Nuuanu Avenue and works as a clerk down at City Hall. She was one of Henderson's girlfriend. And from the little I have been able to find out, they were together for just a few months, but their relationship was quite rocky one, and after several stints in the hospital for Jennifer after their arguments turned violent, the two of them split up just over a year ago." Chin fell quiet as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped into the hospital lobby and headed towards the main doors before he added softly, "Hotel's not that far from Nuuanu, Steve."

Steve nodded as he pushed the door opened and they walked across to the car park, "Well, let's pay her a visit and find out if she has had any visitors earlier this afternoon or tonight, or find out if she has heard from him at all today."

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

“Now eat up, boys,” Janey told the two boys as she placed the bowls of her homemade spaghetti and meatballs in front of them and turned to grab the milk out of the fridge to fill their glasses. Closing the fridge door, she jumped in surprise as she saw John standing in the kitchen doorway, the look on his face warned her that something was seriously wrong.

 Holding a finger up to his lips as he nodded towards the two boys who were sitting with their backs to the door, he tilted his head towards the living room before he turned and walked back into the living room.

A little frightened and worried by her husband’s strange behavior, she quickly poured the boys their glasses of milk, placing the glasses on the table beside their bowls of spaghetti with the motherly, no nonsense warning, that they were to eat everything on their plates before leaving the table and not to play with their food before she turned and hurried to join her husband in the living room. “John, what’s wrong?” she asked as she reached him, and he turned around to look at her with a look of fear and devastation in his eyes, “Has something happened?”

 “Honey, Danny’s been shot,” he told her quietly.

“Danny?” Janey parroted, staring at her husband, shocked by the news, unable to believe what he was telling her as she managed to croak out, “How…how bad?”

“It’s bad, real bad. He was shot at almost point blank in the head. He’s… he’s critical … they … they don’t know if he will make it.”

“Ohh, God,” Janey moaned, “How... how did it happen?”

“From what we have been told, McGarrett and Danny were trying to arrest a murder suspect in the old Bellevue apartments on Hotel Street.”

“That’s only three blocks away from here.” Janey gasped.

John nodded, “McGarrett took the apartment’s front door while Danny covered the alleyway in case the suspect tried to do a runner using the fire escape.”

“And the suspect shot Danny trying to escape?”

John hesitated before he answered quietly, “That’s what the initial investigation suggests but…”

“But?” Janey frowned in confusion, uncertain of what her husband was trying to tell her.

“A witness saw two small boys run out of the alleyway a minute or so after the shot was fired, followed a minute later by the suspect.”

“Two small boys?” Janey’s frown deepened with confusion.

“Two small boys who fit both Sammy’s and Tommy’s descriptions, right down to the clothes that they are wearing.” John continued slowly.

“But it couldn’t have been the boys…” Janey began.

“Wait, before you say anything, there’s something more I need to tell you. Danny was shot by a Berretta.”

“You mean a gun like your police service weapon?”

John swallowed and nodded, “Yeah, the same type of gun.”

“But I don’t understand,” Janey whispered, uncertain if she really wanted to hear any more of what her husband wanted to tell her. “Why are you-”

“Just listen,” John told her desperately, wanting to get what he needed to tell her over and done with. “This afternoon, when I started to get ready for work, I discovered that someone had been playing with my gun, I put it in its holster with the safety clip on in the drawer before I went to sleep but when I opened the drawer to get it later, it was lying on top of the holster.”

“You don’t think Sammy was playing with it again, do you?”

John nodded as he rushed on, “I asked him about it, Janey and he lied right to my face. Told me that he didn’t touch it, but I think we both know that he did.”

“But what’s that got to do with Danny’s shooting?”

“After I heard about Danny and the two little boys the witness saw, I …I checked my weapon. I mean…I hoped I was wrong about what I was thinking. I felt like such a failure as Sammy’s father for even thinking it, but I had to make sure, especially after what happened with Jamie…”

“And?” Janey asked fearfully.

“There was one bullet missing… and… and it had been fired recently.” John murmured, reluctantly.

Janey wrapped her arms around herself, in a desperate attempt to try and ward off the icy cold that seemed to emanate from her very soul as she sat heavily down on the sofa and stared up in shock in horror at her husband. The sickening feeling of déjà vu washed over her, and she felt that she was reliving the nightmare all over again, except instead of Jamie’s death, it was Danny now fighting for his life after being shot point blank in the head, only a few short blocks from their own home. She prayed that John was wrong about his unspoken suspicions about the gun and the missing bullet, and the two boys who matched both Sammy’s and Tommy’s descriptions who were seen running from the alleyway only minutes after Danny was shot. Shaking her head in denial, she could only whisper, “No, no, you have to be wrong. Sammy promised us that he would never touch your gun again, besides the gun was in the bedside drawers next to our bed where you were sleeping, and the boys were playing outside all afternoon. There just has to be some other-”

“I really want to be wrong about this, I do, but after what happened with Jamie…” John paused, kneeling in front of his wife. Reaching for her hands, he gently clasped them in his, as he asked quietly, “But Janey, I really need to know, is it possible that the two boys might have gotten my gun and snuck away to play with it while you were watching your show?”

 Biting her bottom lip, in an attempt to stop the tears from falling as she remembered her own suspicions about what the two boys had been up to and if they had stayed in sight of the house when they were riding their bikes as they had been told, when they had come inside while she was watching her show, she slowly shook her head. “I…I don’t know.” A tear trickled down her face as she glanced towards the kitchen where she could hear the two boys laughing before she looked back at her husband and whispered guiltily, “Ohh, I’m sorry John, I know I should have been watching them closer but I…I…”

Forcing a small smile, he reached up and wiped away her tear with the back of his hand as he squeezed her other hand and murmured reassuringly, “I know, Sweetheart, it’s okay…”

“But what if you’re right, John? What if Sammy did take your gun? What if…” she whimpered in terror.

“Shh, shh, Sweetheart, everything’s going to be okay, I promise.” John whispered, as he rose and sat on the sofa beside her and wrapped his arms around her.

“But what if Danny dies like Jamie did? How are we going to protect Sammy?” she sobbed, burying her head into his shoulder, “Oh God, John, we have already lost Jamie, I know what I will do if we lost Sammy as well.”

“We’re not going to lose Sammy, I promise you!” John murmured into her hair.

Pulling slightly away from her husband’s comforting embrace, Janey sniffled and looked fearfully up into his eyes as she asked cautiously, not quite daring to believe what John was promising her, “We won’t?”

“No, we won’t,” John smiled reassuringly.

“But what if Danny dies…or the suspect Danny was after wasn’t the shooter and saw what happened, or Danny recovers and tells them that…”

“Listen Sweetie, we don’t even know for sure if my suspicions are correct, but I promise you, I am going to try and assist with the investigation and if I do find out that Sammy was the one who shot Danny, I promise I will take care of it. No one, and I do mean  _no_  one, will ever know what really happened. I will make sure of that, just like I did with Jamie’s death.” John promised as he lovingly brushed an errant strand of hair away from her face.

“But what about Tommy?” Janey’s voiced hitched a little as she grabbed her husband’s hand and held it tightly against her cheek, needing his physical contact to help her calm herself down.

John frowned as he realized that if Sammy had shot Danny, then Henderson would not have been the only witness. He knew that the boys had been together all afternoon, but he had been so consumed with the fear that his son might be responsible for Danny’s shooting that he had ignored the fact that if Sammy was indeed responsible for Danny’s life-threatening injuries then Tommy might have also witnessed it. Biting the inside of his cheek, he thought about how he could procure the silence of the young boy before he suddenly looked back at his wife and asked, “Tommy’s definitely staying with us a few days, isn’t he?”

Janey nodded, “Yes he is, remember I told you this morning that I told Simon and Carol that he could stay with us for a week while they go away and work on their marriage.” Wiping away another tear, she asked, tentatively, “Why?”

John nodded, “I was just thinking that it might be best, that while the investigation is happening if you take the two boys away for a couple of days, maybe to the Big Island and stay in that fancy resort they have just built. Maybe take the boys sightseeing …”

“But John, can we really afford that?” Janey gasped, staring at her husband in surprise.

John shrugged as he looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen where he could see the two boys getting up from the dinner table before he looked back at his wife and whispered urgently, “Can we afford not to? I mean, we need to get the boys away from here, until I can find out just what happened in the alley today and if Sammy is responsible. And we can’t afford either Sammy or Tommy talking to anyone, just in case.”

0.0.0.0.0.0.0

Handing a plate piled high with spaghetti to Tony who was seated on the sofa in front of the television, Jenny quickly turned away, unwilling to watch him as he shovelled the food greedily into his mouth, not even taking the time to chew before he wolfed it down. She winced and bit her lip to stop herself from crying out as he suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand hard, forcing her to turn back towards him, his mouth still half full of food, as he asked, “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Forcing a small weak smile, Jenny shook her head as she gently pulled her hand free of his bruising grip, “I’m not hungry, I’m just going to get myself a cup of coffee. Do you want one?”

“I do if the coffee comes with a shot of whiskey in it,” Tony grinned and winked, reaching across to slap her behind, hard, as she turned to walk away.

Yelping in pain, Jenny jumped out of his reach before she hurried back towards her small kitchen, freezing in mid-step as she heard footsteps coming up her front stairs. Quickly turning around as she heard Tony slam his plate down on the small coffee table in front of him, she watched him pull out his gun as he headed across to the window.

“You expecting anyone?” he hissed angrily as he silently crossed the room.

“N…no,” she stuttered softly as she watched him reach the window and use the barrel of his gun to lift the curtain slightly to peer outside.

“Shit!” he growled softly as he quickly dropped the curtain back into place and began to move towards her, “Shit!”

“Who is it?” Jenny whispered, frightened at Tony’s reaction as he hurried towards her as she heard someone knock loudly on the door.

“It’s McGarrett and one of his Five O cops!” Tony hissed in her ear as he grabbed her arm and pressed the gun under her chin, “Get rid of them and fast if you don’t want two dead Five O cops on your hands!” Tony warned her before he released her hand and gave her a hard shove towards the door as she heard the officers knock again. “And don’t try to do anything stupid!”

“I won’t, Tony, I promise,” she promised softly as she stumbled and stopped herself from falling, turning around just in time to see her bedroom room door close as she reached her front door.


	7. Chapter 7

Randy glanced across at his partner as John opened the car door and slid in beside him, slamming the car door shut before turning and staring up at his closed front door. “How did Janey take the news?” Randy asked softly, breaking the silence between them as he turned the key and started the car.

“Not good.” John sighed as he turned back to stare out the front windshield as Randy eased the car out into the light traffic and pulled away from his home.

Randy nodded as he cast another quick glance in the mirror at his partner, “Did she confirm that Sammy and Tommy were at home when Danny was shot this afternoon?”

“Yeah, she said they were playing on their bikes out in the street.” John murmured distractedly as he turned his head to read the registration of a parked car they were passing, disappointed that the registration did not match the registration of a stolen car they were on the look-out for that had been used in a string of armed robberies before returning his attention back to the traffic ahead, “She said they never went further than the corner.”

“Janey’s sure they stayed in the street? I mean it was when the soapies were on TV, and if she is like Wendy, once they start, well the world around them seems to just disappear…” Randy asked as he slowed down to check for traffic at a crossroad before driving through.

“Yeah, she sure. And both boys told me that they never left the street when they were playing on their bikes,” John replied, his heart began to race as he slowly turned and faced his partner, asking tentatively, “Why?”

“It’s just that one of the mothers of one of the boys I interviewed thought she saw Sammy and Tommy riding their bikes near Hotel Street today about the time of Danny’s shooting. They were headed back in the direction of your house. She said the reason why she noticed them was because they kept looking over their shoulders back in the direction of Hotel Street and were riding like the devil was chasing after them.”  John answered, forcing himself to keep his attention on the road as he noticed John’s tension rising. Shrugging nonchalantly, he added, “But she couldn’t say for certain it was the two boys, all she best she could do was give me a general description of the two boys she saw. And you said that Janey confirmed Sammy and Tommy were at home with her at the time of the shooting.”

“Yeah, she did.” John nodded a little too fast before he swallowed down the hot bile that was burning the back of his throat as he silently prayed that his partner would dismiss the mother’s report of possibly that Sammy and Tommy were the two boys she had seen with her uncertain and general description.

 “As I said in the squad room, the descriptions of the two boys we have been given so far could fit any one of hundreds of boys that age in this city alone.” Randy tried to reassure his partner as he cast a quick surreptitious sideward glance at his partner’s pale, anxious face.

“Yeah,” John agreed again, weakly, turning back to stare out of the car’s side window, as he tried hard to stop himself from shaking.

0.0.0.0.0

Lifting his hand to knock, Steve’s hand froze in the air as the door suddenly opened and the young woman he had seen in Henderson’s photograph stood nervously in front of him. Smiling his most disarming smile, he showed her his ID and asked, “Miss Rankin?”

She nodded woodenly, fear evident in her eyes as she answered, “Yes, can I help you?”

 “I’m Commander Steve McGarrett, Five O,” tilting his head towards Chin, he continued, "and this is Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly. We would like to talk to you about Tony Henderson. May we come in?”

“I…I haven’t seen Tony in months.” Jenny stammered, scared that they could hear how loudly her heart was beating.

 “We know that, Miss Rankin,” Steve smiled reassuringly as he slipped his ID back into his pocket,  “but we are hoping that maybe you may be able to help us find him by answering  a couple of questions for us. I promise it won’t take long.”

Biting her bottom lip, Jenny was unable to think of any plausible excuse to stop them from coming in. She reluctantly nodded and slowly stepped aside, glancing over their shoulders at her closed bedroom door as Steve and Chin stepped inside. Turning, she closed the door firmly behind them.

Holding the gun up next to his chest, ready to use if he needed to, Tony Henderson watched through the small, slivered opening of the bedroom door that he had left slightly ajar, as Jenny stepped aside, and the Five O two cops entered the small living room. The grip on his gun tightened as McGarrett looked around, the Commander’s eyes lingering a few seconds on the bedroom door, before McGarrett finally returned his attention back towards Jenny as she closed the front door and turned towards him.

“I don’t understand how I can be any help to you,” Jenny ‘s voice trembled slightly as she turned and faced the two Five O officers, not moving away from the door nor inviting them any further into the room. “I’ve already told you that I haven’t seen Tony in months. I don’t even know why you are looking for him or, even, what’s it to do with me!”

“We believe that Henderson is responsible for the shooting of a Five O detective this afternoon,” Steve began to explain.

“The police officer who was shot in the head?” Jenny gasped, her eyes wide in feigned surprise before she added, quickly, “It’s all over the news. They said that the officer was shot while trying to make an arrest …” Steve nodded silently, watching her closely as she slowly looked down and shook her head before she suddenly snapped her head back up to look at him as she asked timidly, “Tony wasn’t the suspect he was trying to arrest, was he?”

“I’m afraid so,” Steve answered gently.

“Ohh, my God!” Jenny stared at Steve before she dropped her voice to just above a frightened whisper as she brought her hand up to her chest, “Did … did the officer died?”

“No, Detective Williams is still alive but he’s condition is critical,” Steve replied, “but we could use your help in finding Henderson. We need to find him, fast, before anyone else is hurt.”

 Jenny swallowed hard, trying to stop her voice from cracking before she spoke again, she was unable to look either officer in the eye as she shrugged, “Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t know how you found me or just how much help you thought I could be, but I’m afraid that you are wasting your time talking to me when you could be out there looking for Tony! The only thing I can tell you is the last time I saw that bastard was a few months ago when he put me in the hospital. After that, I told him we were through and I never wanted to see or hear from him again, and I haven’t.”

“We are hoping that you may know some of his friends, someone who he might turn to when he is in trouble or maybe somewhere where he feels safe and he would go to lay low for a few days?” Chin asked, shooting a quick look at Steve as the young woman grew more agitated.

Casting another quick nervous glance over Steve’s shoulder towards the bedroom door, Jenny shook her head hard as she saw the door open a little wider and saw the glint of Tony’s gun as the light from the living room reflected off the metal of the barrel as it was aimed at the two officers’ backs. Fearful of what was about to happen if she didn’t get the two officers out of the house, fast. “Look, I…I swear, I don’t know any of Tony’s friends or even where Tony is or where he would even go, and I don’t want to know…” She opened the door and quickly stepped aside as her eyes drifted back to the barrel of the gun now clearly seen in the doorway as she stammered, her heart thumping painfully in her chest as she rushed on, “Now please, … you … you really have to leave now. I was just about to get ready for work and I’m already late and I really can’t afford to lose this job. But, I promise, if I hear from Tony or find out where he is, you will be the first to know.”

“Thank you,” Steve smiled, casting a last surreptitious look at the half-eaten plate of spaghetti and the bottle of beer sitting next to it on the small coffee table in front of the TV before he noticed some movement behind the slightly ajar bedroom door. Looking across at Chin, he tilted his head towards the door in a silent command to that they should leave, resisting the urge to look back as the door closed behind them and they walked down the stairs.

"She's scared," Chin said as they reached Steve’s truck.

"She has a good reason to be," Steve agreed, glancing across the top of the truck at the closed front door before he opened the truck door and slid inside.

0.0.0.0.0

Turning around, after closing the door, Jenny leaned back against it, wrapping her arms around herself as she tried to stop herself from shaking. She held her breath as she watched the bedroom door fling open before Tony emerged and hurried across to the window, parting the curtains just enough to watch the two cops climb into their truck and drive away.

“Are they gone?” she whispered fearfully.

“Yeah, they’re gone,” Tony nodded, watching the taillights of the car disappear from view around the corner, before releasing the curtains and allowing them to fall back into place. “But they will be back.” he growled, nervously wiping his lips with the back of the hand that still clutched the gun before he suddenly turned and hurried across to her. “And when they do, we won’t be here!” he hissed as he roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her across to the table, snatching up her hand bag and car keys before he turned and dragged her back to the front door. “Because I’m getting out of here, and you’re coming with me!” he told her as he opened the door, ignoring her soft pleas to let her go as he forced her out of the house in front of him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little off topic but I am wondering if anyone would be interested in reading my WIP 'Deadly Intentions'- that I started several years ago, if I start posting the last few chapters to finish it?


	8. Chapter 8

Parking around the corner, out of sight of the house, Steve quickly reached over to the back seat and grabbed one of the bullet proof vests he had thrown on the back seat earlier, before he got out of the Silverado and shrugged into it.

Climbing out of the truck, Chin grabbed the other vest, pulling it on and adjusting the shoulder strap as he looked over the truck’s roof at Steve and asked, “How do you want to do this?”

After checking his gun, Steve glanced across at Chin, "Let’s see if we can find out what's going on in that house. "

Chin nodded as he followed McGarrett around the corner and using the cover of the dark shadows and misty rain, they carefully made their way past the two houses until they reached Jenny Rankin's home. Pressing themselves against the wall of the house, they stealthily edged their way to the side of the stairs. They only had time to duck back down into the dark shadows as the front door suddenly opened and Jenny stumbled outside with Henderson gripping her arm tightly as he forced her down the stairs.

Silently drawing his gun, Steve waited until they reached the bottom of the stairs before he stood up, his gun trained on Henderson's back as he called, "Hold it, Henderson, Five O! Let her go and give yourself up!"

Jenny squealed in fear and broke free of Henderson's bruising hold, running away as fast as she could before she was quickly grabbed by Chin and pulled to safety as Henderson spun around to face Steve as he started to reach for the gun he had tucked in his belt behind his back.

"Just give me an excuse, Henderson," Steve warned, a dangerous edge coloring his voice, his finger tightening minusculely on the trigger as he kept his weapon trained on Henderson's chest.

Henderson hesitated as he stared at Steve, before he glanced across at Chin, who also had his gun aimed at him. Looking back at the look on McGarrett’s face, he had no doubt that McGarrett wasn’t bluffing with his threat.  He sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat, as he allowed the gun he now held in his hand to drop to the ground, kicking it away, before he slowly raised his hands in surrender.

Reholstering his weapon, Chin stepped forward, confident Steve had him covered as he grabbed Henderson and pushed him up against the wall of the house.

"Ya making a huge mistake, McGarrett, I didn't kill Jones and I didn't shoot your partner. I admit it, Jones and I had a fight over the money he owed me, but I didn't kill him, nor did I shoot your partner this afternoon," Henderson protested weakly as Chin quickly patted him down, searching for any more weapons. Grabbing each arm and bringing it down behind Henderson’s back, Chin quickly zip tied his hands before he grabbed his arm and turned him back around to read him his rights before leading him off in the direction where the Silverado was parked.

Shrugging free of Chin's hold, Henderson turned back to Steve as he pleaded, "You have to believe me Stone, there two kids in the alley and they shot him! Just ask your partner, he'll tell you it was the two kids who shot him, not me!" Pulling against Chin’s firm grip as Chin grabbed his arm again and forced him to walk towards the corner, Henderson turned and looked over his shoulder as he continued to yell, "Go on, McGarrett, ask him! Just ask him!"

 0.0.0.0.0.0

Tony Henderson sighed loudly in frustration, shifting on the chair that he was handcuffed to as he glared across the bare cement basement room at the two Five O officers standing near the door, "Look, McGarrett, how many times do I have to tell you? I didn't shoot Williams in that alleyway!"

"Well, Henderson, I want you to tell me again," Steve answered coolly, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall, forcing himself to stay in control, not wanting to risk letting this bastard off on a small technicality such as police brutality, "And I don't want you to leave a single detail out."

"Okay, McGarrett, okay, I admit it, I legged it, I climbed out of the window when I heard you at the door, I knew someone had stitched me up for Jones' murder and I didn't want to go away for somethin' I didn't do!" Henderson began again, lifting his shoulder, unsuccessfully attempting to wipe his mouth on his shirt his mouth, before repeating the story that he felt that he had repeated at least one hundred times in the two hours since his dramatic arrest outside Jenny's place. Dropping his shoulder back down, he licked his lips, nervously, before he continued, "So I ran! I went out of the window and down the fire escape but when I reached the alley way around the side of the building, that's when I saw your partner and those two kids with the gun."

"You're telling me the kids had a gun?" Steve asked, catching the disbelieving look that flittered across Lou’s face.

"Yeah, yeah," Henderson nodded eagerly, "I was running around the corner to get away when suddenly I saw your boy and the two kids. I don't think that Williams even saw me, his attention was focussed fully on the kids and getting them to give him the gun."

"Describe the kids." Lou demanded.

"What?" Henderson asked, momentarily confused by the unexpected question.

"What did the two boys look like?" Lou demanded again.

Henderson shrugged and swallowed hard. "I don't know, they were just two boys … probably about seven or eight, one was blonde, the other had dark hair... "

"What were they wearing?" Steve pushed.

"Jeans and tee-shirts," Henderson paused, staring into the distance over Steve's shoulder as he tried to remember anything more about the boys. Suddenly, looking back at Steve, he announced, "Yeah, they were both wearing jeans and tee- shirts but the blonde boy's shirt had a picture on the front of it, one of those cartoon characters, umm… that cartoon about the family where the mom has the big blue hair and the dad’s name is Homer…," he frowned before he suddenly smiled, "The Simpsons, yeah that's the cartoon character he had on his shirt, Bart Simpson!"

"And then what happened?" Steve growled.

"I ain't sure, one minute I heard Williams talking to the boys like he knew them, telling them to give him the gun and the next the kids started fighting over who was going to give it to him, then bang! The gun goes off, Williams falls to the ground and the kids take off running." Henderson sat up straighter in his chair as he looked at Steve. "There was no way I was going to hang around after that, you were already wanting to lock me up for one murder I never did, what chance did I have of provin' that it wasn't me that shot your partner. So-"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Lou gruffly interrupted, casting a quick glance across at Steve before returning his attention back to Henderson, "You said that you heard Williams talking to the boys like he knew them."

"Yeah," Henderson nodded, looking at Lou, "I heard him call one of them Benny … not Benny…" Henderson frowned, "Sammy? Yeah that's it, Sammy! Williams called one of the kids Sammy when he told him he wanted the gun."

"Sammy, are you sure?" Steve frowned.

"Yeah," Henderson nodded before adding, "Williams called the blonde headed kid- Sammy, and the kid called him - Officer Williams. And like I already told you, that's when the kids started fighting and the gun went off, Williams went down and we all ran. If you don't believe me, ask you partner! He'll back up what I am tellin' you!"

"Oh, don't worry, Henderson, I will as soon as Danny Williams is well enough to be interviewed," Steve told him coldly, "Now, what happened to the gun?"

"Look, McGarrett, I don't know! It wasn't my gun! But I'm tellin' you, if you didn't find it, then I guess the kids musta taken it. You have to believe me, McGarrett, I might be a lot of things but I'm no killer. I never killed Jones and I definitely didn't shoot your partner. Find the gun and I bet you will find them two kids who shot Williams!" Henderson sighed with resignation as he shook his head and slumped back down lower in his chair as Steve stood silently, watching him. "See, I knew you wouldn't believe me," Henderson muttered in frustration as he looked down at his lap before he looked back up at Steve and growled defiantly, "Well, if you don't believe me, I guess I have nothin' more to say because you have already made up your mind that I'm guilty. Now, I know my rights, so I suggest that you either charge me with something or let me go cause I'm through co-operatin'. Now I ain't got nothin' more to say to you until I talk to my lawyer."

Steve’s hands curled up into fists as he resisted the urge punch the defiant look off of Henderson’s face instead forcing himself to nod as he turned to leave the room, ordering Lou over his shoulder, "Charge him."

 


	9. Chapter 9

“Steve!” Duke ran to catch up with McGarrett as Steve reached the sliding glass doors the led into the Five O offices. “I got the search warrant you wanted and we searched Jennifer Rankins’ home.” he told the younger man breathlessly as he reached him, and they entered the Five O office together.

“And?” Steve asked, casting a quick glance towards Chin’s office where Chin was debriefing the young woman about the night’s earlier events before returning his attention back to the HPD sergeant.

“Nothing, Steve, no sign of the gun. I’m guessing Henderson probably dumped it somewhere between the alleyway and the house. I have some of the guys searching the route he would have taken,” Duke shrugged, “but it’s a long shot, Steve, he could have dumped the gun he used anywhere.”

“What about the two boys the witness saw leaving the alley immediately after the shooting? Any leads?” Steve asked softly.

“None,” Duke sighed tiredly. “some of the guys doorknocked the families in the streets surrounding the alley who have boys about the same age as the boys seen running out of the alley, but all the boys are accounted for for the time of the shooting.”

Steve frowned, “All of the boys?”

“The guys said there were a couple of families who weren’t home when they doorknocked tonight, so I thought I would door knock those families in the morning,” Duke answered.

 “When you do, Duke, see if any of the parents or kids know a boy named Sammy who matches the description.”

“Sammy?” Duke asked, confused.

“Yes, Sammy, Henderson claims he heard Danny call one of the boys Sammy in the alleyway,” Steve told Duke softly before he turned and headed towards Chin’s office.

o.o.o.o.o

Holding the mug full of hot coffee between her hands, Jenny could not stop shaking as she answered the Five O lieutenant’s questions over and over again.

“Tell me about what Henderson told you about the shooting of the officer in the alley again?” Chin asked as Steve knocked on the door and entered Chin’s office.

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, Tony was scared and upset. He told me that he was in big trouble… big trouble. He said that the cops believed he killed a police officer by shooting him in the head as he tried to get away, but it wasn’t him. Look, he was rambling, and I was scared.” Tired, frustrated and scared of feeling like she was being treated like she had done something wrong, she looked up pleadingly at Steve as he entered the office to believe her as she repeated what she had only told Chin a few minutes before, “He said something about there were some boys in the alley when he tried to get away. I’m not sure just what happened, Tony didn’t tell me, he just said that one of the boys shot the officer, not him.” She sighed as she looked back down into the mug of coffee and muttered, “He told me that you would never believe him…”

“And you do?” Steve frowned as he sat down on the edge of the table, watching her closely.

Jenny looked up at Steve, “Look, I know Tony is no angel, in fact, he is an utter bastard! Hell, he proved that to me over and over again, but one thing I will say about him, no matter whatever else he did, he has never lied to me. Not once!” Biting her bottom lip, she looked over Steve’s shoulder at the young woman in the next office who appeared to be typing something into the computer on her desk before she looked back at Steve and finally answered his question, “So you want to know if I believed him when he told me that he never shot that police officer, that one of the kids did? Yes, I believed him, okay, I believed him!”

Placing the coffee mug back onto the table, she suddenly pushed her chair away from the table and stood up, “Look, it’s late, I’m tired and I have already told you everything that happened tonight, now unless you want to arrest me or something for lying to you about Tony being in my home, I’ve already told the Lieutenant that I didn’t have any other choice. He threatened to kill you both, and me, if I gave him away. Now please, can I go? I just really want to go home.”

Steve nodded and smiled as he rose from the edge of the desk, “No, you’re not under arrest, thank you for your co-operation, but -”

“I know, I know, but in case you have any more questions for me, you don’t want me leaving town,” Jenny anticipated his next words before she looked at him with a small tired smile, “Isn’t that what the cop says to the suspect or witness in all the cop shows?”

 “Yeah, I guess they do,” Steve laughed before he grew serious again, “but I was going to say but because it’s so late, how about I get one of my officers to give you a lift home.”

“Ohh,” Jenny blushed, before she added demurely, smiling shyly back at Steve, “Thank you.”

Steve walked her across to Chin’s office door before he called Kono out of her office. He waited until Kono joined them before he introduced the two young women to each other before requesting that Kono drive Jenny home.

Chin silently watched through the glass partition wall of his office as Jenny and Kono left the office before he turned back to Steve and frowned, “So what do you think, Steve? She insists that Henderson told her the two boys in the alley were responsible for shooting Danny.”

“Henderson is telling the same story,” Steve answered slowly, “He says that Danny was already distracted by the two boys when he came around the side of the building and one of the boys was holding a gun. He also claims that Danny and the boys seemed to know each other. He thinks he heard Danny call one of the boys Sammy.”

“Sammy?” Chin frowned, turning back to look at Steve in surprise before he asked cautiously, “You don’t believe Henderson’s story, do you Steve?”

Staring at the now empty doorway to the Five O office, Steve hesitated a moment before he turned back to look at Chin and slowly nodded, “I do.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Hey, John, Randy, hold up for a sec.”

The two HPD officer stopped and turned around as they waited for their colleague to jog across the garage parking lot to where they had parked their squad car.

“Did ya hear?” Charlie asked excitedly as he reached them.

“Hear what?” Randy frowned tiredly, not in the mood for guessing games after a long tiring nightshift and a distracted partner who seemed to have spent the whole shift in his own head than on patrol in the squad car.

“About Henderson!” Charlie grinned as the trio began to walk towards the garage doors that lead into the station.

“What about Henderson?” Randy stopped looked across at Charlie, his hand resting on the door leading into the building.

“We got the bastard!”

 “When?” John demanded, surprising Randy that his partner was even listening to the conversation.

“Late last night, McGarrett and Kelly arrested him after they found him hiding out at an old girlfriend’s apartment. I heard that he gave up without a fight.” Charlie answered as he reached across and pushed open the door, waiting until the two other officers followed him through and the door closed behind them before he rushed on. “But get this, he’s screaming that he is innocent, that he didn’t murder that businessman and that he didn’t shoot Williams either.”

Randy snorted in disgust, like many other guilty men before him, Henderson was now screaming that he was innocent. “So, just who is he trying to say shot Williams in the head at close range while he was escaping? Those two little kids the witness saw running out of the alleyway after she heard the gunshot?”

“Yeah,” Charlie shook his head in disbelief, “can you believe that? Man, I thought I heard it all but to blame two little kids of trying to murder a cop while you are trying to escape. That has to take the cake. Hell, he even told McGarrett that he thought Williams knew the boys, he claims he heard Williams called one of them Sammy.”

“Sammy?” John asked softly, his face losing all color as he stared, wide eyed, at Charlie.

“Yeah, said he heard Williams call the kid Sammy. How desperate is that?” Charlie breathed as he looked over John’s shoulder, eager to share the news of the arrest of Williams’s shooter with the other officers who were just arriving for the change of shift.

“Did … um … did McGarrett believe him?” John asked.

“Are you kidding?” Charlie laughed as he turned his attention back to John and Randy, “Of course he didn’t, he had most of us most of the night searching for the weapon that Henderson had used in the shooting and even had us turn over Henderson’s girlfriend’s apartment to look for it.”

“And they didn’t find it?” Randy asked.

“Not yet, but I am sure McGarrett will have the guys on the day shift searching for it.” Charlie answered, “But we’re sure to find it somewhere between Hotel Street and where the girlfriend lives unless someone else has picked it up and decided to pocket it. Not that it matters, from what I heard the case against Henderson is strong, even without the gun, and if Williams dies, he’s facing life.”

“Any updates on Danny?” John asked, desperate to change the conversation.

“Last update I heard, he’s still critical and hasn’t regained consciousness.” Charlie answered distractedly before he suddenly excused himself and hurried away, calling out to two more officers who had just entered the foyer, “Hey Gary, Jim, hold up for a sec, did ya hear the news…”

Randy waited until the excited officer moved away before he grabbed his partner’s arm and pulled him back out into the garage parking lot.  Spinning John around to face him, he demanded, “Okay, John, Brah, just what the Hell is going on with you?”

“Nothing, I’m fine!” John snapped guiltily as he tried to pull his arm free of his partner’s firm hold.

“Ohh come on, John, I’m your partner, don’t you dare lie to me!” Randy growled, pushing John up against the wall as he released John’s arm and leaned closer with his hand pressed against the wall next to John’s shoulder, preventing his partner from ignoring him or walking away as he dropped his voice to just above a harsh, annoyed whisper, “You were jumpy when you came on duty yesterday and then after you heard about William’s shooting.

And just now you just turned as white as a ghost after Charlie told us that Henderson was caught last night and is now trying to claim that Williams got shot by one of the two little boys in the alleyway. Hell, Brah, you’re still shaking like a leaf. You’re not thinking this kid who Henderson claimed Williams called Sammy is…” He stopped as he found himself staring at the look of fear and desperation in his partner’s eyes that he had seen there only once before after he had insisted on taking John out for a few drinks to try and help him unwind, just a few weeks after Jamie’s death. John had become quite inebriated and had tearfully admitted that despite the coroner’s findings, he knew that Jamie’s death was not natural, that he had found Sammy standing proudly next to the cot, where Jamie was lying dead, with the pillow still clutched in his hands. John had begged him to keep the true circumstances surrounding Jamie’s death a secret and he had seen no point in sharing what he had been told. John and Janey had already lost one child, he could not put them through the heart rendering ordeal of possibly losing the second, but he had made John promise to try and get his son some help and he knew that John had kept that promise but even with the therapy, he had still seen an icy coldness in the little boy’s eyes that he kept telling himself was just his own active imagination after being told what Sammy had done. “Ohh, John, are you sure it was him?” he whispered softly as he dropped his arm.

John nodded before he quietly admitted, “The description of the two boys match Sammy and his friend, Tommy down to a tee, even down to the clothes they were wearing yesterday, and Janey can’t say for sure that they were playing in the street around the time when Danny was shot, she got wrapped up in her soapies.”

“But that doesn’t mean…” Randy began.

“There’s more,” John confessed brokenheartedly, looking past Randy’s shoulder, unable to look his partner in the eye as his guilt about what his own son had done threatened to overwhelm him.

Randy waited a minute as two officers who glanced curiously at them as they walked past had moved far enough away that they could not be overheard before he asked cautiously, “Go on.”

“Remember how Sarge said that Danny was shot with a Beretta?” John murmured.

“Yeah…”

“Well, when I went to bed yesterday I placed my service weapon in its holster with the safety clip on in the drawer beside the bed but when I got up and went to get my weapon, it was laying on top of the holster.”

“Did you ask Sammy about it?” Randy asked softly, aware that the boy had been found playing with the gun and punished on previous occasions.

John nodded, “He said that he didn’t touch it.” Looking back at Randy, John’s could not hold back the tears that began to trickle down his face as he rushed on, “He lied straight to my face, Randy, like it was nothing. Then after the Sarge told us about Danny’s shooting, I checked my gun … God, I hated myself for even doing it, but I had to check.”

“And?” Randy asked, already knowing the answer.

“There was one round missing from the chamber, Randy, and my gun had been fired recently but not by me.”

“Are you sure?” Randy frowned.

John nodded and swallowed, “I cleaned the gun and made sure it was fully loaded before I placed it in the drawer yesterday morning and now there is a bullet missing and it’s been recently fired.”

“Oh fuck!” Randy breathed. “That explains why you have been distracted all shift and wanted to talk to Janey and the boys alone last night. And why you were so jumpy after I told you that a neighbour thought she saw Sammy and Tommy riding their bikes back from the direction of Hotel Street about the time of William’s shooting.”

“Oh God, Randy, I don’t know what I am going to do. This is Sammy we are talking about and we both know that Janey is never going to cope if we lose him as well. And to be honest, I am not sure if I can cope if we lose him either.”

“Easy, Buddy, easy, let’s take this thing one step at a time. Now you said that Tommy is staying with you and Janey for the week? Where are they now, at home?”

John shook his head as he took a deep breath and desperately tried to wipe the tears from his face with the back of his hand, “No,” his voice hitched a little as he answered, “I sent her and the kids down to spend a few days at that new resort on the Big Island. I didn’t want anyone deciding they wanted to question Sammy or Tommy about where they were yesterday afternoon.”

“Good, good,” Randy nodded as he reached up and gave his partner’s arm a reassuring squeeze “Now we just have to convince Henderson to change his story and admit that he is lying…”

“But what about Danny, if he regains consciousness and remembers what happened…”

“I’ve got your back, partner, you just do whatever you have to do to protect Janey and Sammy and let me take care of Williams.”


End file.
